Prop 8 Oral Arguments to be heard in Supreme Court 3/5/09

Equality California just sent the news release on Prop 8 Challenges to be heard in CA Supreme Court. The short of it is that on March 5 the first of the cases that are legal challenges to Prop 8 are to be heard in Supreme Court. They will be televised on Calfornia Channel so we can watch the proceedings…dry as they may be. The courts decision is then due in 90 days or about June 5. We may have June weddings for everyone again if it goes well.

The first of the cases is Strauss vs Horton et al with details on the California Courts Prop 8 page.

There will be two other cases on Prop 8 also heard that day. Among them is the case filed by the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles that also are an effort to overturn Prop 8 on constitutional grounds. (I can’t tell you how proud I am to be an Angeleno when the city and county step in the way they did).

Folks, no matter how you slice it this is a civil rights issue and needs to be in the courts to make a constitutional ruling once and for all. This time they are also looking at the effort to rewrite the constitution to fit some dogma and strip people of their rights. This is no different than a “jim crow laws” that took court rulings to restore equality and level the playing field for people. For this reason I have donated to Equality California to continue their efforts. You may do so too HERE. Full press release after the jump.

The California Supreme Court announced today that it will hear oral arguments on Thursday, March 5, 2009 in the Proposition 8 legal challenge.

On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear the legal challenges to Proposition 8 and set an expedited schedule. Briefing in the case was completed on January 21, 2009.

The California Supreme Court must issue its decisions within 90 days of oral argument.

On January 15, 2009, 43 friend-of-the-court briefs urging the Court to invalidate Prop 8 were filed, arguing that Proposition 8 drastically alters the equal protection guarantee in California’s Constitution and that the rights of a minority cannot be eliminated by a simple majority vote. The supporters represent the full gamut of California’s and the nation’s civil rights organizations and legal scholars, as well as California legislators, local governments, bar associations, business interests, labor unions, and religious groups.

In May of 2008, the California Supreme Court held that laws that treat people differently based on their sexual orientation violate the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and that same-sex couples have the same fundamental right to marry as other Californians. Proposition 8 eliminated this fundamental right only for same-sex couples. No other initiative has ever successfully changed the California Constitution to take away a right only from a targeted minority group. Proposition 8 passed by a bare majority of 52 percent on November 4.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU filed this challenge on November 5, representing Equality California, whose members include many same-sex couples who married between June 16 and November 4, 2008, and six same-sex couples who want to marry in California. The California Supreme Court has also agreed to hear two other challenges filed on the same day: one filed by the City and County of San Francisco (joined by Santa Clara County and the City of Los Angeles, and subsequently by Los Angeles County and other local governments); and another filed by a private attorney.

Serving as co-counsel on the case with NCLR, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU are the Law Office of David C. Codell, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

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